Topical Themes in Energy and Resources

This book provides a broad, up to date viewpoint on environmental issues in energy and resources, enabling the reader to consider how we might move towards a more sustainable world. Chapters cover critical issues including low energy technologies and renewable energies like hydrogen economy and geothermal energy, and authors explore aspects of resources including availability (for instance rare earth metals), extraction and recycling of metals and plastics. Readers will learn of technological solutions to specific waste disposal problems and also be led to consider broader strategic issues such as limits to growth and the interaction between the economic system and environmental issues.§§Each chapter provides topical data and knowledge from research in specialised fields, giving the reader a broad range of perspectives. This volume is based on Tohoku University s education and training programme for environmental leaders and brings together an extensive range of expertise from specific fields, providing the broad viewpoint that is necessary for considering strategic judgements.§§Through this book students and educators can get up to date on a wide range of critical issues in the field of energy and resources. The chapters are written in a highly accessible way, making the work readily understandable by students from all scientific, engineering and humanities fields, and ideally suited to researchers involved in cross-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary research programmes.§